Whatcha Readin'

[Terrance]

 _The Sound and the Fury_  remains one of the most amazing books I've
ever read. I tried to read it a couple of times as a teen, I couldn't. I
couldn't "get it." My mother was a big Faulkner fan and I tried to read
Mom's books because they were generally easier reads, more fun, than
Dad's books.  My father would see me contorted in some corner of the
house with Faulkner and challenge me to a game of chess. Some reprieve
from the torture I was suffering. Not that I was ever going to defeat
him at chess, but being beat by one's father at chess was better than
being defeated by an idiot at golf. Like one of those speed chess
players in the park, Dad would snatch my Queen and my Faulkner and slip
me a thin Graham Greene.  I never "got it" until I read it through twice
in an undergraduate course in Modern novels. Although it's not as big or
even as difficult as lots of books I've read since, I still like to
consider TS&TF a milestone in my reading life. An amazing book.  



Tim Strzechowski wrote:
> 
> Personally, I'm convinced _Absolom, Absolom!_ is the best of Faulkner's
> novels.  Far better than TS&TF, and I was a huge fan of the latter for many,
> many years.  Interestingly, A,A! and the Book of Revelation go hand-in-hand
> nicely as apocalyptic literature.  A wonderful comparison-read lies therein.
> 
> > TS&TF > AILD > A!A! > LIA, is how I tend to write the
> > (non-)equation, but (a) it's a tough call all around,
> > and (b) the only other Faulnker I've read is "The
> > Bear" and The Wild Palms, so ...
> >